Crooked Song: A loner's tale
by twoidiotsandonehaspropergramar
Summary: Softsong was captured by twolegs before the Clans left on the Great Journey, being left behind. Now he must face the dangers of twolegplace with the help of a loner named Jackdaw, and his friends and family. Will he manage to survive life without the Clans?
1. Allegiances

ALLEGIANCES

JACKDAW - Brown tom with tan muzzle, face (minus forehead and ears), end of tail, stripes on tail, and paws. His jaw is twisted to the right, and he has light amber eyes and long legs. His fur is thick, short, slightly ruffled around the ears as if he could never get it to flatten. Loner.

SOFTSONG - Black tom with white paws, tip of tail, and rough star-like pattern that forms into a solid stripe that goes from his forehead to down his spine and ends in a ring at the base of his tail. He has emerald green eyes. His fur is medium length and soft. Formerly Shadowclan. Loner.

MOTTY - Small light brown tabby and white she-cat with lighter brown dustings under her darker stripes, a purple collar, and delicate white paws (up to the knees) and tail tip. Her fur is long, silky, and soft. Kittypet.

CROW - Large dark grey tom with black ear tips, muzzle, paws, and splotch covering the base of his tail and around it with spots surrounding it. He has a black marking on his right shoulder shaped like a crow's foot, and yellow eyes. His fur is long, his tail a bit ragged. Rogue.

SNOWFLAKE - White she-cat with light grey paws, a golden tinted muzzle, sof amber eyes, and black spots going from her ears all the way down her head and spine to the base of her tail. Kits- Lance, Leo, Luna. Loner.

LANCE- Small white tom kit with black ear tips and paws, as well as splotch at the base of his tail and yellow eyes. Kit, loner.

LEO - Small grey she-kit with tiny black spots on her ears and spine, white paws, and light amber eyes. Kit, loner.

LUNA - Black she-kit with white paws, spots around the base of her tail, white ear tips, and a few white spots on each ear. She also has a white muzzle and dark brown eyes. Kit, loner.

ELLEN - Pale yellow she-cat with white tail tip, belly, and chest, darker golden patches on her hindquarters and shoulders, light blue eyes, and brown paws. Kittypet.

WHITETAIL - White she-cat with blue eyes and long, soft fur. Shadowclan.

MARBLES - White tom with a blue left eye and a green right eye. He has short and soft fur. Red leather collar with slightly squashed bell and a tag with his name on it. Kittypet.

FOX - Reddish brown tom kit with white paws, blue eyes, and a stubby tail. The tip of his tail is white. Loner.

PETAL - Fluffy pale brown she-kit with blue eyes and a stubby tail. Loner.

SOCKS - Black tom kit with white paws, tail tip, chest, belly, and muzzle. He has amber eyes. The white on his back legs go halfway up his leg. Loner.


	2. Chapter One

A dark shape is huddled within a prison of strange shiny, stiff bars, the scent of other cats around him mingling with fear scent from some and the acrid tang of the dark monster they all were in. A loud noise was heard as the end of the strange monster opened, revealing a twoleg male. The twoleg starts taking the strange prisons out of the monster one by one, carrying them off somewhere out of view before coming back and retrieving another cat. The twoleg then grabs the tom's shiny prison and carries him out of the monster.

The black tom with white markings stays crouched on the stiff bottom, the strange material uncomfortable under his white paws. His emerald green eyes stay narrowed as the twoleg starts carrying him towards a large twoleg nest, bright yellow light shining through the holes in the walls. The tom watches intrigued, yet scared, staying curled up in a ball. All of a sudden, two dark shapes dart past the twoleg's legs, screeching something awful. The twoleg lets out a yell before dropping the stiff prison in shock, the thing breaking apart and allowing the tom to quickly run away.

The tom runs away from the twoleg nest and the monster, off in a random random direction. Unable to tell where he was going, due to the unfamiliar terrain, confusing scents, and it being the middle of the night, he just ran around trying to avoid dogs, twolegs, and other cats.

After what seemed like a moon of running, the tom collapsed in exhaustion. His paw was wounded from stepping on a sharp, clear stone, the pain making his leg throb. He slipped into an uneasy rest in between two nests.

Jackdaw hopped from one fence to the next, clearing the gap and landing lightly on the slats of wood. He trotted along the top of the fence with his head and tail high, leaping down and continuing to walk along the sidewalk. Though it might seem like the tom was easy prey for anyone, cats and dogs alike, he had been here long enough to show the others he just wanted to be friends and help out in any way he could. As a result of this, the other cats respected him and he had lots and lots of friends, even in cats he didn't know personally.

Dogs, on the other paw, were a different matter. Most of the dogs in this part of the neighborhood were little yappy things that often stayed shut up in nests. But even the large ones learned not to mess with him. Though the tom seemed too weak to fight, he could hold his own pretty well. All it took were a few slashes across the noses to send those dogs whimpering back to their twolegs. They learned to stay well away from Jackdaw after those instances.

Opening his jaws to taste the night air, he quickly sorted through the usual scents. Monsters, Thunderpaths, twolegs, the occasional dog, stale cat scents, fresh cat scent- Fresh cat scent? His ears pricked up and he started following the trail of fresh cat scent, eager at the thought of making a new friend. Soon he came to an alleyway.

The brown tom slipped into the alleyway, his eyes adjusting rather quickly to the deeper darkness of the alley. He sniffed around before coming to a soft, dark lump. His nose wrinkled slightly as he tried to identify the scent. _Twoleg… Twolegplace… Clan scent. Definitely clan scent under there._ His ears perked up as he heard a low growl nearby. He turned his head but couldn't see anything. Yet. He quickly turned back and picked up the sleeping tom, heaving him onto his back.

Though the trip was a bit awkward, Jackdaw carried the strange tom to the nearby park he had made his nest under a bush. He set him down as gently as he could before cleaning up his wound, licking the blood away and rubbing a dock leaf to help soothe it. Once he was finished he curled around the tom protectively, falling asleep soon after.


	3. Chapter Two

Softsong awoke next to a strange cat he has never seen before. He leaped away from the cat wincing because of his injured pad.

"Who are you, and why am I here?" asked Softsong suspiciously, not releasing that the tom was asleep. The brown tom was awoken by the question. He stretched and yawned, not bothering to try and hide his crooked jaw. He never did.

"The name's Jackdaw. I found ya in an alleyway an' ya were injured, so I brought ya here to heal ya." His voice was lighthearted and calm, his words a bit odd, though it was most likely from how his bottom jaw was twisted to the right. "And ya? What's your name?" He shook his fur out before sitting down and smiling at Softsong, curling his oddly patterned tail around his tan paws.

"My name is Softsong," Softsong replied. He limps a little farther away. Jackdaw stood up and nosed him back into one of the nests.

"Ya gotta rest that paw of yours. I'll get something for ya to eat, don't move!" He bounded off into the nearby wooded area, disappearing into the bushes.

"But I need to get back to my sister Whitetail in Shadowclan!" Softsong calls after Jackdaw as he lies down on the grass. As much as he wanted to move, he laid still and groomed himself as he waited for the other tom to return. After a little bit Jackdaw appeared out of the bushes again, four mice dangling from his jaws, all neatly killed. He trotted back over to him and laid down, dropping the mice down in between them.

"It might not be what you're used to, but eat these. They'll help ya!" He pushed two of the mice closer to Softsong, starting to eat the other two. The two he got were noticeably smaller than the ones he had given to the black and white tom. He had to tilt his head to one side to eat, but it was effective.

"I am not used to eating these..." he mutters as he turns the mice around in his paws, eventually gobbling the mice down. "That was nice and all, but I need to go before they get too far away."

Jackdaw finished off his mice, swallowing the last bit before shaking his head. "Ya aren't going anywhere with that injured paw. Besides, the others are long gone. There are way too many monsters to try an' get through that mess anyways. Ya may not like it, but ya gotta stay here." He looked a bit sympathetic, his light amber eyes staring at Softsong. "I know ya Clan cats don't like twolegs, so why don't ya live with me an' my sister in our barn? She's got three kits now, an' I'm sure she won't mind the extra paws around to help her!" He said brightly, his tail swishing happily.

"I don't know, just until my paw is healed." Softsong replies. Jackdaw nodded.

"Of course! I wouldn't dream of making ya go anywhere until you're ready!" He got up and stretched, poking his head up and looking around. "With any luck, ya can meet her mate before we meet her. Even if we don't, you're with me!" He laughed a bit, rolling onto his back with a smile.

"Alright, let's wait until my paw is healed, then let's leave… I don't feel very comfortable around these twolegs." Softsong suppressed a growl at the thought.

Several days had passed, and Softsong's paw had healed up enough for him to travel. Jackdaw kept them both fed by hunting.

"So, wanna start now?" Softsong asked, anxiously shifting his weight from side to side. Jackdaw nodded and got up, stretching before shaking his fur out.

"Yep! Our farm is a little bit away, but we should get there by sunhigh! Follow me!" He led the way in the opposite direction of the park, away from the delighted shrieks and calls of the twoleg kits at play in the greenleaf sun.

As Jackdaw had predicted, the two toms reached the farm by sunhigh. Once they had gotten out of the little strip of woods they had had to cross a small thunderpath. Jackdaw wasn't too unsettled by the monsters rushing past, though Softsong had shrunk back before bolting across as fast as he could at Jackdaw's signal. After crossing the thunderpath they made their way across a couple of large corn fields, as the brown tom had explained. Eventually they came across a large red twoleg nest, one of the doors slightly ajar.

"Well, here it is! This is our barn. Now, stay here for a few moments. I need to let Snowflake know you're coming in so she won't get scared." He gave Softsong a reassuring smile before slipping inside the barn. The black tom nodded and sat down on the stone slabs in front of the barn, opening his jaws to taste the air. The barn had a musty scent, cat scent just barely recognizable underneath it. The scents were too similar to the smell of the barn to distinguish how many there were, but there was a definite trace of milk scent.


End file.
